Operation: Canute
by End of All Hope
Summary: The two armies clash in the skies and on the ground as vicious hand-to-hand fights erupt on board the Titans.
1. Pre Battle sickness

2nd Lieutenant Gold, Alyona Ivanova Novikov, stood on the flight deck of the Titan Airship _Tributs_. A large floating behemoth of a carrier. She took a long draw back on her contraband quick light cigarette. After a few minutes she flicked it out of the Titan's Flight Deck Shield and watched it spiral to the snow covered ground below. It was October 2139, and her unit, the Central Command Group was about to make history in Operation: Canute. Her tank squadron, a force of five of the hovering Type-32 Nekomata, was assigned to take a vital control point, aptly named Crucifix Hill, for the large crucifix that was constructed on it, but first they would have to punch through the front lines; which by what intelligence had briefed her wasn't going to be easy. After a few more minutes of watching the ground race by below her she turned around.

The flight deck was bare except for one Type 4 Doragon Gun-ship, and one BTR-20 Yasterb Air Transport. Both of which were sitting on the elevators that had brought them up from below. That thought reminded her to go check on her tanks in the cargo hold. Alyona had never fought from a Titan before so she didn't know how they were going to get her tanks out of the air. The walked around the small weapons center which controlled the four under-side turrets, and the two top-side Anti-Air Turrets, all of them were manned by the Titan crew members in their grey uniforms, as she reached the back of the Titan Flight Deck, she turned left and walked underneath the Weapons Center to a medium sized automated door, which opened up at her presence.

The scene in front of her was chaotic, Doragons and Yasterbs were sitting on the floor the insides strewn about around them in neat rows as their technicians worked on them for the coming day's battle. She walked across the carnage all the while looking precariously down from the narrow cat walk she was on. When she made it to the other side, the blonde haired Russian girl exhaled. "Not afraid of heights are you?" The voice belonged to 1st Lieutenant Gold Afonik Nikolaevich Toskoy, her Executive Officer. He must have decided to check on the tanks himself. Alyona spun to face him. "No, just aircraft." she replied. Gunner Gold Raidon Nakamura, her tanks gunner smiled his sheepish Japanese grin, "If it goes over thirty-three centimeters, your afraid of it, huh, Lieutenant?" He asked. Afonik and Alyona both laughed, "Where are the babies?" Alyona asked. Afonik motioned behind him, "This way, follow me, the technicians are doing some preventative maintenance and are finally taking the speed governors, allowing us to go up to 180 Kilometers per hour."

"Really?"

"Yes, ma'am, Captain Kobayashi was giving them hell all day for not wanting to take the damn things off."

"Sounds like Kobayashi, is our _glorious leader _charging into combat with us?"

"Yeah, but he is with the second wave, not his fault, it's Battalion that put him there."

"Battalion needs to fix it, I'm not qualified to lead Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta all into combat."

"Relax Lieutenant, you'll do fine, just don't do what Major Wu Rui Kuan, during training."

The two officers entered a room where Alyona's five Nekomatas were put, they looked just like the aircraft on the chaotic assembly bay down below. "Everything looks to be in order." She said. "Yep, the Titan's bowels give me the creeps, can we go topside?" Afonik asked. Alyona nodded and together the two officers walked out of the support areas. When they reached the living area, Alyona stopped Afonik. "You're not going to die on me tomorrow are you?" She asked the young Russian Lieutenant. "Are you kidding, my name _means _invincible, I can't die." He said as they stopped out side his room. "Yeah, I guess so." Alyona said quietly as the man she had come to love stepped into his room. "Hey, goodnight." Afonik called from the doorway. "Yeah, goodnight." Alyona made it to her room in one minute. She stripped out of her black uniform and got her Thermal Action Body Armor or TABA ready for the next afternoon. When she was finished with that she crawled into her heated bed and was soon fast asleep.


	2. An alert enemy

Alyona woke up, out of an erotic dream she was having, to hearing "_General Quarters! This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill all hands man your battle stations!" _called over the Titan's P.A. System. Cursing she rolled out of her bed, and put on her TABA. She grabbed her Malakov SMG and ran out of her room. She turned a corner and ran smack dab into Afonik.

"Hey, slow down, no hurry really, we're just out side of Minsk. General Tiberius wants the entire division's first wave commanders in the briefing room as of right now." He said smiling. Tank personnel by nature wore the same type of body armor as Combat Engineers, and they practically carried the same load-out except for the Tankers didn't carry the rocket launchers but instead opted for more Sub Machine Gun ammo, and more stamina. She nodded, and the two made their way to the briefing room.

The room was just like any other public room in on-board the Titan. White-Grey walls, with Pan-Asian Coalition propaganda plastered all over it. The PAC formed in 2009 when it became apparent that the world was due for another Ice Age, and it was going to happen fast. In the beginning the PAC consisted of only Japan, North Korea, and China, but by 2138 had come to incorporate, Japan, both Koreas, China, Vietnam, India, Laos, Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand, and many other Pacific States, the United States was invited, but due to having ties to both the European Union and the Pan-Asian Coalition opted for a more neutral aspect, they took to orbit, and began to sell their orbital bombardments, charging both the EU and the PAC, money. "If you would be so kind to sit down Lieutenant." The Australian General said in his accented Russian. Alyona apologized and found a seat that Afonik had been saving for her.

"The Titan Technicians believe that the storm we have been in will dissipate in little less than Three Hours, during this time all Tanks of the 5th Tank Guards Division are to be in the process of being put on the ground, a phase that has already been completed," the General stopped and took a sip of pure fresh water as he brought up a map of Minsk, "the blasted Americans have limited the areas we can fight, which are marked by these yellow striped lines, we can't fight in those, nor can we traverse in that area, only Aircraft can-" another Tank Commander raised his hand. "Yes?" The General called on him. "Why can't we use that area? The Americans aren't our bosses." The man said rather pissed off. The General exhaled violently, "Do you like friendly orbital strikes?"

"Yes."

"That is why."

"What, are you saying, sir?"

"I'm saying is that we don't get the very much needed ability to do an Orbital Strike on the European front lines if you break the American's rules of engagement. I hate it just as much as you, but those strikes are precious to this war effort and one person breaking the rules just once, means that the Europeans will have the orbital advantage and not us. So therefore, you are strictly for-bidden to enter those restricted areas, do you understand me, 2nd Lieutenant Silver?"

"Crystal, sir."

The rest of the briefing was uneventful and short, with the General saying that our objectives have already been uploaded to our tank's targeting computers. After the commanders were dismissed they filed out one by one towards the Titan's flight deck, all of the silently waiting for the storm to end and the battle to begin.

Field Commissar Gold Zanipolo Bianchi hated the snow storms of Minsk. The could mask enemy approaches, not that there was an enemy, how-ever there were reports of a possible war with the PAC. So because of that, he had to sit in a bunker that was situated between a rock and a hard place or what a geologist would call, a Ridge and a River. He hated the cold, being from southern Italy. Sure, it go t cold there, but not like the minus forty degree weather of Minsk. Hell at least he still had what you could call a spring. A staff officer came by and placed a data pad that showed the results of a radar sweep of the surrounding area. As predicted the storm was so powerful that it showed up as sixteen huge blobs. Even though they were just atmospheric anomalies, the Commissar pulled his Bianchi FA-7 Light Machine Gun closer to him. The Bianchi FA-6 LMG is remarkably effective as a provider of suppressive fire given its all-condition resilience and lengthy firing duration. Unlike its 21st century precursors, with its heat-resistant metal alloy components and computer-driven thermal transfer system, the Bianchi FA-6 requires neither mid-battle barrel changes nor maintenance, allowing for rapid, uninterrupted fire. The brain-child of his great grand-father, the Bianchi family from the shores of Messina have been rolling in riches since it began mass production. The Commissar scanned the clouds and noticed that they were dying down, except for his atmospheric anomalies. He suddenly sat up in his chair. The staff officer noticed, "Something wrong, sir?" Bianchi nodded.

"We are going to war. Sound the alarm."

"Yes, sir."


	3. The Entrance Exam

The flight down from the Titan hadn't been an easy one for Alyona. While, she had been up in the air, delivering a speech to her Squadron mates the European Union had discovered them and launched a surprise attack, that had almost ended the battle right there and then. But thanks to a couple of squads of Engineers, Special Forces, Security Personnel, and the Titan's Under-Side guns, the attack was halted, but not before the EU had put a heavy toll, Alpha and Bravo Squadron's weren't going to in with Charlie and Delta anymore seeing how their Nekomatas were destroyed. That left only Ten tanks going in with the first wave. Command had thought about combining the first two waves together, but time restraints didn't allow that to happen. The Central Command Group needed to push North to link up with the Northern Command Group, who had for the past fifteen hours been assaulting the European's front lines. Now she was sitting in the command seat of her Nekomata, gratefully thanking the designers of the Mk-1 Titan for putting the shields on them so Orbital Strikes were useless against the Assembly Area.

The attack was about to begin, she could tell, because the infantry was loading up into the BTR-4 Romanov APC. What she didn't know was that, the next twenty-four hours were going to be the worst of her life. "All units, all units, this is General Bon-hwa, good luck out there, remember your training and you'll all come home. ATTACK!"

Alyona, smiled, the General had sugar coated it for raw recruits like Afonik and her self, but deep down, she knew that some of her unit weren't returning. She heard her Nakamura power up the engines, it as his job to keep them running and fire all weapon systems and defenses, hers was to drive. She pushed the yoke forward and felt the Nekomata lurch forward, first slowly then faster till it reached top speed. She fell in front of the other vehicles, and then dropped back for having remembered the movies she'd seen as a child where the lead soldier always dies. She instead found herself directly behind Afonik, who of course was in the lead. She say the orange flame of Afonik's cannon firing as his Gunner found a target. Then she dashed out from behind him, her Gunner fired and bodies flew into the air, despite the surprise attack on PAC equipment, just a few hours before the EU seemed to be taken by surprise.

The tanks hadn't surprise Bianchi at all. The Anti-Air Cannon on the roof of his command structure, opened up on a Doragon Gun Ship as it strafed the trench line in front of him. The AA Gunner was unrewarded. "Damn, shields. Back in my day, that Gun Ship would have been toast!" One of his Lieutenants yelled. Bianchi grimaced. He had expected a retaliatory strike, but not one of this scale. He turned around to order the radio man, to order for re-enforcement, but a lucky tank round had better ideas.

Alyona, watched as the latest shell from Afonik's cannon sailed into the large bunker in front of them, a giant flame erupted out of the too large windows and burning bodies fell three stories. "Yes! Direct hit!" Nakamura yelled into the intercom. "Yeah, don't get to excited, we got company." She shot back. An A8 Tiger Tank, a tank that rolled around on treads, peeped out from behind the bunker, it fired, directly at Alyona. She closed her eyes, as the enemy round hit the shields. "Did, I ever tell you that I love you Nakamura?" She said. "No, you haven't." He retorted. The Nekomata lurched backwards as her cannon boomed and a shell went flying towards the A8, Alyona thought it was a botched shot, but the Gunner of that Tank hesitated and the her shell ravaged the A8 sending a plume of smoke, ash, fire, and debris into the sky. "Direct Hit!. Good Job." She said. Another A8 appeared from behind of the Command Bunker, and positioned itself between Afonik and the Bunker. The commander was either stupid, brave, or both. She thought Afonik had it down, but the A8 was faster, and Afonik didn't get his shields up in time. The shell tore the Nekomata in half hitting just above the Commander's Compartment. Alyona watched as it's bow plowed into the earth, then flipped end over end and finally smashed against a rock, she saw a body drop out. He cannon boomed and another A8 was turned into a smoldering ruin, she didn't care. "Afonik!" She screamed into the headset. She waited. The body climbed out from underneath the propped up tank hull. He waved his arms, then took cover as a line of bullets stitched the dirt where he had been standing. She position her tank between the enemy, and the man. Then delegated all controls to Nakamura, and opened her hatch. "Hey, you okay?" She called out. The man crawled out form under the tank again. "Yea, Alyona, im alright, told you I was invincible, my Gunner didn't make it though." He said. Alyona wanted to get out and kiss the man for being okay. "Afonik, you're an ass hole." She heard herself say instead. He just stood there smiling till a drop pod landed next to them. "Looks like you gotta go, I'll catch-up!" He shouted over the battle field din. Alyona nodded, closed her hatch and retook driving controls. She had some killing to do.

The guided the tank around Afonik's Derelict, then dashed back behind it as another A8 sent a shell her way, it missed and hit a BTR APC instead, destroying it. Six soldiers died to save two, but no, Medium Armor was more important than Light Armor. She jigged back around the derelict tank, this time Nakamura and her were lucky, the A8's attention was somewhere else. The Gunner fired, the shell taking the turret off the A8. Three Kills. She wasn't done yet. She wanted fifteen more, but- an explosion went off in the bow of her tank. "BAIL!" she heard Nakamura say. She hit the safety release on her straps, and quickly climbed out of the Nekomata. She saw Nakamura kneeling by a tree and ran over to him. "What happened?" She asked. "A Damn Tiger, go lucky that's what."

"So what know?"

"I don't know you're the damn Lieutenant."

"Don't be pissy with me, you got your Malakov?"

"You mean the Russian piece of shit?"

"Yes, that Russian piece of shit."

"Yes, ma'am, I have mine. You?"

Alyona, un strapped her's from her thigh, "Yep. Now, lets cause some havoc before the infantry show up. First, we have some revenge to carry out." Alyona pointed to the A8 that was now perched by their old tank. "I like this idea, ma'am." Nakamura said with a smile.


	4. The Smash

Alonya ducked behind the rock she and her gunner where hiding behind. The A8 Tiger Tank was still alive and kicking into the ass end of the PAC and with the addition of three squadrons of friendly battle walkers and the L5 Reisig showing up didn't make for much fun for anything smaller then a Titan. After some time of bunkering down, she noticed that the lines had completely dissolved, pockets of PAC fought with pockets of EU, but that damn _friendly_ Titan wasn't helping either continually strafing the area with its rail guns. She needed to act.

"Come on! Well, take down that tank." She said to her gunner, who just looked at her. "How, ma'am?" he asked. She thought for a second, he did have a good question. After a few seconds her face lit up, "I got it!" She turned and look for the blue circles that represented friendlies. Spotting three she opened up a com link to them, "Lee, Ke Sung, and Shcherbina! Over here on the double!" The three soldiers ran over to her. The Korean, Ke Sung, dropped down his face plate, he was sniper. Seeing her Lieutenant Bars the man said, "What can we do for you, Ma'am?"

Alonya, didn't hear him, she couldn't hear him. She was fixated on the L5 Riesig that had stomped it's way from the Forest Behind the burning Command Bunker, but it wasn't the Battle Walker that had her attention, it was the two P.A.C. Engineers that were right in it's gun sights...The two soldiers fired their rockets a fraction of a second apart, sending two Blue Pulsing Plasma Rockets form their Sudniks. The first rocket hit the Walker in the left knee melting it, but not all the way. Then the second rocket pulped the walker's left knee, just as the driver decided to stomp on the soldiers rather than shoot them. A mistake. As the Walker came down on nothing, it opened fire with it's two auto cannons, ripping one Engineer in half sending her legs one direction and her body the other direction. She let out a scream that rose above the battlefield din, the other Engineer didn't make a sound as the round pulped him into a pink cloud.

The Walker keeled over burying it's main cannons into the ground, but there was still one gun left that could cause damage it had other ideas for the Engineer that was blown in half, it tore her upper half to pieces as she managed to flip over and try to reconnect her body by following her entrails. Ke Sung dropped his hands in a surprised manner as the Anti-Air Gun on the Walker fired into a clutch of trees, stopping a platoon of PAC soldiers. A Shadow slipped over Alyona as a Yasterb floated over head with it's shields on, the Walker's remaining gun hammered at it to no avail as two rockets screamed out of the Yesterb's troop bay. The rockets hit the Walker simultaneously, causing it to catch on fire. Escape hatches opened up and two EU Soldiers ran out completely on fire. Near-by, a soldier epitomized Alonya's feelings by shouting into his mouth piece:_"Don't shoot, let them burn, Comrades!"_ Sure enough, no PAC soldier shot at them and they laid their screaming and moaning till finally the succumbed to inferno, _Serves them right_, Alonya though. She looked at the Right Flank, she was on the Left Flank and saw that things were looking up. With a battle cry that drowned out the SCAR 11s that the EU was using the Right Flank Charged. Hordes of men and women charged three EU soldiers that were hunkered down. The Europeans fired into the mob killing scores and fatally wounding hundreds, but then they had to reload. An especially eager PAC troop wielding a Shuko LMG charged ahead of the others, his weapon blazing in his hand. The Enemy bodies wilted, cut off at the waist, and then went silent. The Right Flank broke through.

Her side, on the other hand, was still pinned down by a A-8 Tiger Tank. She finally spoke, "Well, now, lets play catch up. Ke Sung, you and your boys are gonna get that tank's attention. Nakamura and I will take it out." Ke Sung shook his head slowly as if not getting the gist of her plan, then all of a sudden he straightened his back and said, "Yes, Ma'am, sure will." The three soldiers took cover and opened fire, Alonya and Nakamura ran with flat footed determination for the command bunker, that had a hole that had been punched in it by some one's tank. They still ran no caring about what would come out of the hole.

Bianchi, had lived through the tank shell and had managed to stumble his way down, the steps making for the nearest exit. He was dazed and confused when he exited through a hole in the wall and saw two black clad figures running at him.

Alonya, sprinted ahead of Nakamura, and sprung off her left foot. She kicked out her right foot, and slammed it into the EU Soldiers head. Knocking him out. She rolled and came up in a crouch. Nakmura slammed into the wall, and when she looked at him, he nodded in approval. The tank had followed them, like she wanted to, but it couldn't get a clear shot. So it moved, just like she planned. "Frags, into the Vents at the Back," she waited till the tank rounded the corner, "Move!" She sprung from her crouch and covered the distance to the back of the tank in three strides. She pulled the pin on a Fragmentation Grenade and threw it into the tiny slot that served to ventilate the EU Tank. She then turned around and sprinted away from the tank. After two more sprinting strides she threw her self at the ground and was instantly covered up by, what she though as, Nakmura's body. She heard three explosion. Then rolled over. Nakmura had been on top of her to shield her and rolled off of her. They both got up and stared down the Barrel of the A-8. She half expected it to fire, but instead a hatch opened up and the Tank Commander came out with his hands up, "Guess you got me." He said in heavily accented Russian. "Yeah, guess we did." Alonya replied. Shcherbina, Ke Sung, and Lee came up to the tank, Krylov Rifles at the ready. Both EU Tankers, came out with out a fight, and just like that, the EU's lines had been smashed.


	5. The Gathering Storm

The PAC had broken through the EU line no doubt about that. Alonya was back on the Titan _Tributs_with basically nothing for her and Afonik to do. They passed the time either with their crews, squadron, or watching movies. Alonya was particularly interested in an ancient movie that was based on a video game out lining a war similar to hers. She'd wondered if the Upper Echelons fo the PAC had ever seen the movie. Maybe it would just teach them something, in the movie the war machine unleashed by the proverbial PAC couldn't be contained, the North American Union, the proverbial EU, was smashed at a horrifying cost. Everything was wasted, even the civilians. She shook the thought of Collateral Damage. Word was the EU had paid the US tens of billions of credits to start bombing the PAC cities, no doubt her government was doing the same. Her thoughts were interrupted as Afonik and another 2nd Lieutenant Silver stomped onto the Mess Deck and sat her table.

"Whats up?" She asked. Afonik grimaced when she looked at him. "Allie," Alonya suddenly became worried Afonik only used her nick name when he needed her utmost attention or something was horribly wrong and judging from the other Lieutenant's Uniform something had to be wrong, "this is 2nd Lieutenant Gold Alekseyev Gorgonovich, he's here to brief us on our next mission." Alonya sat up straighter, as if she could, "Will it involve tanks?" she heard her self ask. "I-" Afonik was interrupted by Gorgonovich, "Yes, yes, it will," The two tankers let out a sigh, "but, and there is always a but with the Pan-Asian Coalition, I have some news for you." He pointed to Alonya. If she could sit up any straighter she would have, "What is it?" she spat out. The man smiled a toothy grin and laughed, "A girl only interested in the climax, guys must love you," Alonya's pale face burned red with rage it made her green eyes stand out and her dark red hair seem to catch on fire, the man laughed at here expression, "Well, Captain Silver, you are to be commemorated on such an outstanding performance." Alonya slumped into the foam chair, at 29 she had terrible back pain.

"What for?" Alonya said finally. "You captured the EU's Field Commissar Gold Zanipolo Bianchi and the EU's premier tank commander Major Gold Eddie Hefting." Alekseyev's words made Afonik make a sound that got Alonya's attention. She looked at him, his pale skin, pale blue eyes, and pale naturally grey hair but not old grey, won him the nickname "Ice Demon" from everyone he met except Alonya and a a few others. She went down from there he was quite the spectacle for most women. Her eyes stopped at his knife it had a couple of EU dog tags attached to it. No doubt he'd been in that charge she'd seen. "Shit, with that she should be Supreme Commander." he said to Alekseyev. The man sighed. "Now about your latest mission," Alonya looked at him, "the enemy has three hills Crucifix Hill, which they've dug into like it's their last stand, Monument Hill; which again they've fortified the hell out of, and Hill 1845, which has a Mechanized Unit perched on top of it. Now, Command has seen fit to give you the choice of which hill you want to hit."

"What's the overall plan." Alonya asked. Alekseyev nodded in approval. "The three hill will be assaulted at the same time. Monument will be hit by elements from both the Central Command Group and the Northern Command Group, 1845 will be hit by a Armored Infantry Unit, you know walkers, tanks, ground pounders, Crucifix Hill will be shelled till it's flat on the ground and then an armored convoy will make it's way up the one road to the top and capture it." He seemed to have full confidence in the ground forces capabilities. "Crucifix." She whispered. "Excuse me, Captain?" She looked at Afonik who nodded. "Crucifix Hill it is." The man smiled said, "Thank you Captain." and left. Alonya hoped she'd never hear from him again. "Get everyone in their tanks, it's time." she said standing up. Afonik snapped to attention, saluted, and then said. "Yes, Ma'am!" he about faced and marched off of the Mess Deck. She followed him.

Two hours later sixty tanks were lined up ready to go. Alonya in the lead tank and Afonik somewhere behind her. "Macaw Lead to all tanks. Report in." There where a chorus of voices she recognized like Afoniks and Macaw 2, 5, and 10. The others were all green. She wondered how many would make it back, a bad chain of thought, for she then wondered if she would be coming back. "Macaw fifty-nine, checking in." it was Afoniks voice. She sighed, "Okay, people, we'll be helping take Crucifix Hill today, word is that command is gonna get the Americans to flatten the hill for us, plus we're gonna use our guns in the barrage also, we're a little bit more precise than those space jockeys." there was some laughed and few curses. Some one was saying her prayers out load. Afonik ripped the tank commander a new one. "Tanker, what's your name?" she asked the girl who'd been saying her prayers. "Monika Silber, ma'am." she replied. _A German!?! _Alonya screamed in her mind. "You're from Germany right?" She asked. "No Ma'am, I'm from Moscow, my folks are German though, me I was born here." Alonya breathed a sigh of relief, the last thing she needed was hesitation among her troops. "Okay, stick with me, every one else lets move out." She grabbed the throttle and yaw sticks in front of her and put her Nekomata into a sideways turn. The other tanks followed.

They left the PAC staging area and entered the area where she had her first tank destroyed. Passing the burned out carcass of both Afonik's and her tank served as reminder to be careful. "You think we should bury her?" Nakamura asked from his position behind her. "I don't know." he didn't say anything back. They passed to the rear of the 1845 Assault Force which was setting up in the forest. An A8 Tiger was on top of Crucifix, which is directly behind the very much smaller Hill 1845, it was firing shots into the Forest; not really aiming but good enough to make the infantry to take cover and the Tanks, APCs, and Walkers to turn their shields on every now and then. A few shells from her company was enough to knock it out of commission. She watched as the crew bailed but for the ammo caught on fire. Then they continued north, passed a second line that had been smashed through and then turned east to pass through the tiny corridor that was owned by the PAC to get to Crucifix Hill. It was at a playground that two L5 Riesigs showed one of her tanks a new trick. The Walkers fired Rockets that homed in on the tank's signature. The Gunner managed to get the shields up, but under the sustained fire power of both Walkers it failed miserably and sent the tank up in fire ball. Then the pilots of the Walkers began to back pedal, as he company broke it's formation. They'd bitten off too much to chew. With 59 tanks they didn't have to aim, both sides fired, but in the end when the dust settled two Nekomatas had 15 mm holes stitched in their sides and two walkers were nowhere to be seen. He company carried on.

They followed a road till they reached an outpost where other vehicles, aircraft, and infantry were at. She realized the PAC was pulling out all the stops except for a nuclear strike. Her screen flashed with_Updating..._ She watched it blink twice as the tank received information from the _Tributs_. The data packet was huge, 120 terabyte, it contained everything that would be needed for the next 72 hours. She sighed and sent each tank the coordinantes of where they were supposed to be. "Macaw Lead to all, you all know where to go, good luck. See you on the other side of that hill." She said into her mike. Her tanks zoomed away, towards their pre-determined spots. After the last tank, soldier, and aircraft slid into place, a count down timer appeared she waited for it to reach zero. Nakamura found a target, a bunker, and elevated the cannon so the round would sail home. _10 seconds...9...8...7...6, _she counted to herself, _...5...4...3...2...1._Then every cannon it what seemed like the world opened up on the hill.


	6. History

"Shit." Alonya heard Afonik curse sharply. The dust had settled and yet...the hill was still there. Alonya grit her teeth. Several A8 Tiger Tanks appeared, rolling out of cover from behind what was left of buildings and trees, their Active Defense Systems engaged.

"ADS NOW!" Alonya yelled to Nakamura, who was only to happy to oblige as the bigger guns of the Tigers barked. Most of the tanks in Alonya's column managed to copy her tactic, however; several Nekomatas didn't react fast enough. She threw her tank backwards while shouting into her mic, "Macaw lead to all Macaw Call Signs, if your still receiving fall back, use your shields and range to pick them off," only a few tanks began to back up towards the buildings and forest, "move your asses!"

That got the others to move. "Target?" Nakamura asked.

"Tiger! Dead ahead, the one with between the two rocks."

"I see it, AP!"

Alonya heard the auto loader whine to life as it loaded an armor piercing shell in the breech of the gun. Without orders the tank's main gun roared to life sending the depleted uranium rod down range and into the turret of the Tiger. Where it bounced off. "Damn!" Another shell was loaded and the gun fired again, the tank's computer tracking the round. It missed soaring into one of the rocks that flanked the Tiger, however, it ricocheted off the rock upwards and hit a UD-6 Talon that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Alonya's jaw dropped.

The driver of the EU Tiger had just looked up for a second when he saw the enemy tank's round hit the Talon above them. He mouthed _wow_, as the round smashed into the starboard engine. The Gunship lost control and and went careening into the forest below. Either way the gunship helped.

"Tailor, pay attention you sorry bastard, get this thing moving!" the driver heard in his ears. He threw the Tiger into first gear and floored it. The EU had developed a strategy to hold off the PAC giving the rest of the military a chance to play catch up. They had done it faster than expected however and now an entire EU Combat Corps sat up on this hill including their new special weapon, Anti-Titan Missiles. The PAC may have deployed their Titans in this battle, but they would pay for it, but first the EU had to retake the monument. Eric didn't know if he should feel honored or doomed that his tank was the lead tank in the push.

"Uh-oh." was all Alonya needed to hear to know that something bad was going down, two hundred feet away a random infantry sergeant was mouthing, "Oh shi-" before a sniper's bullet tore the back of her head off. Alonya pitched her tank to come to bear on Tiger that had just leaped down from its perch. She fired.

"Oh damn!" the loader of the Tiger shouted as the enemy round pulped Tailor. She shook her head, she had always liked the kid, even if he was English. She bailed with the rest of her crew only to join Tailor moments later as Alonya gunned the crew down with her machine gun.

"HA! About time!" Alonya said through gritted teeth. She spun towards a new target, a Tiger with his sides to her. "Fire!" The gun spoke and another Tiger was added to her kills. She backed her tank into the tower complex that surrounded the forward observation post that had been a monument to those lost in the Afghanistan War in the early 21st Century. She positioned one of the towers between her and the enemy and began to think. They needed to stop this EU counter-attack, but how. She couldn't see anything that would help them. The latest she could decipher from the unintelligible noises coming from her head set was that EU Walkers and Gunships had descended upon the infantry concealed in the forest, EU Tanks and APCs were over running the playground and flanking Hill 1845, and the PAC was bringing its Titans to the front, to provide support. She would have to either split her forces, push through to Hill 1845 and loose the Monument, or try to hold out as long as possible. This was her force and already over half of her tanks lay in and around the monument burning, the crews with them or were gunned down or got to safety. She sighed and had her mind made up, she would muster who she could and ride to Hill 1845.

"All Macaw Call Signs, this is Macaw Lead, check in." She said into her unit net. She heard Monika and Afonik's voices. She exhaled in relief. Then sharply inhaled when the reports suddenly ended. She did the math,she had started with sixty tanks, two tanks lost getting to Crucifix Hill, ten lost in the initial engagement, that left forty-eight. However, only fifteen had checked in, she started out her view port in disbelief she had lost seventy-five percent of her forces. That was ninety people that had died under command. She shook her head.

"Alright, listen up Macaw, I'm not going to lie to you, we got duped in the worst possible way. We alone lost ninety of our own squadron members in this battle. However, us last few can remain alive, we're going to push through enemy lines to link up with the units at Hill 1845. What I'm asking of you is very dangerous and no doubt some of you will die, so I'm giving you the option, you can fall back or follow me to the Hill."

She waited, no one was saying anything, she thought no one would till Macaw 15 said, "I'll follow you anywhere Macaw Lead! URA!"

"URA!" The others chorused.

"Alright, this it Macaw. Afonik, you take fifteen, sixty, thirty, and twenty-two. Silber you take twenty-one, forty, five, and six. Three, ten, eleven, and fifty-four your with me. Historians are going to write books about this war one day, so lets make sure that Macaw gets their own damn set! Form up!"

The formation of fifteen Nekomatas took all of five seconds to assemble. Alonya was standing up in the cupola to get a better view of their target. "We go in Line Abreast Formation, Silber to the right, Afonik to the left, my group and I will go up the middle, don't stop for anything. FORWARD!" She pointed at the Hill and then climbed into the tank shutting the hatch above her. To Nakamura she added, "Lets go write history."

"Wouldn't want to do it with anyone else, ma'am." He said.


	7. The Last Pyre of Sun Tzu

Alonya gunned her tank forward, the other tanks followed her. In a matter of mere seconds they had cleared the protective cover of the buildings around the Monument. The Tigers that were advancing , immediately threw their tanks into reverse and activated their Active Defense Systems.

She heard Nakamura laugh, "They must think were a bigger force." She found that hysterical and started to giggle as she jinked left to dodge a stray tank round. She saw four BTR-20 Yastrebs fly low close to the ground bundled up T39 Bogatrys clamped on tail. The Battle Walkers' feet touched the ground the Yasterbs increased power and climbed into the sky. A few EU soldiers on top Crucifix Hill had a Man-Portable Air Defense Systems. She knew the MANPADS system they were using well, the Mitchell SAAW 86 . She cursed. One of four rockets from one launcher slammed just to the right of the cockpit of one of the Yasterbs, the pilot put the transport into a steep dive straight into an EU Walker, she saw drop pods come out of another as it simply fell out of the sky. She blinked, just like that most of the transports were dead.

She sighed, "They knew the risks, they're heros in my book." She spun right bringing the main cannon to bear on Mk-15 Bandit Light Recon Vehicle, she lead the scout and watched as Nakamura's High Explosive round ripped the scout into millions of pieces.

"Almost there," some cried out followed by a sharp yell, "incoming!" Alonya watched the yellow tracer of a tank round bounce of a rock and start flipping, it smacked into the bow of Fifty-four causing it to end-over-end. The tank's forward momentum kept it flipping destroying the delicate gun and optics and with out a doubt killing the crew. The Nekomata came to a rest upside down.

The Bogatrys in the meantime were functional falling into step with the tanks of Macaw squadron, together the very thin line of armor caused havoc amidst the EU units pouring from Crucifix Hill. A line of heavy rounds stitched a line of EU Tiger Tanks brewing them up into funeral pyres. She didn't risk looking at the sky as she spun her tank around and backed up to Hill 1845. They had made it.

She opened her hatch and pulled her self out of the tank and then looked up, the _Tributs_ was above them, shelling the playground with heavy cannon fire. The only problem was an EU Titan was directly off the Bow. Red and Blue tracers lit up the sky as the Dorsal guns of the Titans opened up on each other.

Afonik and Monika pulled up on either side of her. Monika looked at the carnage that had once been a play ground and crossed her self. Afonik muttered something about the EU having Titans and theirs being just as good as the PAC's.

The Titan's shields kept them from damaging each other, that was until bluish-white bolts of lighting rained down from the heavens. General Arkadi Petrov and his EU counter part had ordered EMP strikes against their rival's Titan. While not very effective against the Titan itself the strikes could drop a Titan's Missile and Kinetic Round (TMKR "Teamkiller") Shield. Said shields flickered once and then died.

An APC behind Alonya began to make noise as a squad of infantry took flight towards the EU Titan. From high up in the atmosphere hundreds more drop pods rained from the non-combative and small Titans that hung in a High Altitude Low Orbit flight. There were so many, in fact, that quite a few flew into each other causing their computers to believe that the pod had reached a safe destination and then the pods would open with nothing but 500 feet to the ground beneath hundreds of troops. It wasn't long before bodies began to rain from the sky. Afonik had night mares...but he knew he would never forget this. Monika closed her eyes and dove back into her Nekomata. Alonya stared at a EU Engineer that landed on the barrel of her tank. Four more Titans joined the battle above them and the cycle began again. She wonder what hell hath in store for the soldiers part of the boarding and repelling actions. She could only imagine.

The Dorsal Turrets of one Titan would constantly spray the dorsal areas of a friendly titan. The soldiers lucky enough to survive that and get inside found a determined crew. On board the _Tributs_ a small five foot-two Private slammed a fresh magazine into her Kyrlov as the EU soldiers attempted to charge down one of four hallways to get at the control boards that flanked the Core to her right. She peeks around the corner and finds a target, the Krylov kicks twice in her hand and a woman screams. All around her echo the sounds of battle people screaming. At console 3 the battle had disintegrated to brutal hand to hand combat, a young Titan Security Force Soldier finds an EU soldier on top of her the others hands wrap around her neck she gasps for air as darkness creeps to the edges of her vision. Instinct and Training kick in she attempts to knee the other girl in the groin and gouge out her eyeballs, but her legs are too weak, the soldier is wearing a face plate. The PAC soldier's eyes roll back and she becomes still.

Reinforcements from several decks below arrive at Console 3, the PAC soldiers raised their Clarks, Vlosses, Baurs, Shukos, Granzs, Herzogs, Krylovs, and Lamberts at the crowd of soldiers a Lieutenant gives the orders, "Fire!" the reinforcements fire indiscriminately into the crowd. The Lieutenant will never forgive himself for killing friendlies, he thinks, _To Hell with the Enemy, They're trying to kill me, but my own allies? Why?_

The situation is no better on the EU Titans, on the Titan _Queen Victoria, _a PAC Field Marshall uses his family's Dai Katana to cut an EU Soldier in half, "Quickly, blow this console, before their reinforcements arrive!" He orders, little known to the PAC troops a Drone Specialist has laid down a A-12 Enforcer Sentry Gun. The Sentry Bot opens fire with its 20mm Cannon killing the Field Marshall, the Demolitions Expert lives, barely, and manages to destroy the Console, the A-12 kills her before she can escape.

On the PAC Titan _Sun Tzu_,the worst happens, a strafing shot from a UD-6 knocks out the field emitter on the Hanger Shield. The EU's Boarding parties waste no time in landing troops in the Hangar Bay. The Bridge Crew fights valiantly to the death. The PAC Private aboard the _Tributs_ is down to her last bullet she fires and the round splashes the wall behind an EU officer with a fresh coat of crimson. The Private ducks back behind the bullet-proof glass. "No Ammo!" she shouts. A Sergeant hands her a fresh Krylov and she goes back to the shooting.

The PAC Lieutenant has been wounded his arm taken off by a Frag Grenade, that doesn't stop him, "Hold the Line, Soldiers, We will make it through the Night, yet!" With his good arm he fires a Turcotte Rapid SMG he picked up from the stinking heap behind him. "No Retreat, No Surrender, Give them nothing!" His soldiers responds, "URA!" their echos reaching the Private who with out realizing it, shouts right along with them. The tide turns for the _Tributs_.

The _Tzu_ is lost, the senior officer, a Sergeant Major, orders an Orbital Strike on the Titan. Hundreds of Hyper Velocity Kinetic Penetrators impact the Titan at 99.9% the speed of light. A bright light, the last pyre of _Sun Tzu_, envelops the battlefield.


End file.
